How to play Counterweight
Counterweight is a daily deduction puzzle on a balance scale. Five objects each weigh a different whole number from 1 to 7, and a few readings of the scale tell you which side went down, or that the two sides balanced exactly. Work out every weight from those readings alone. Only five of the seven weights are used, so which two are missing is part of the puzzle. You get three attempts, and a wrong answer tells you how many weights were right but never which. The Daily gives everyone the same scale; Practice deals a fresh one whenever you like.
How to play
- Five objects sit on a balance scale. Each one weighs a different whole number from 1 to 7.
- You are given a few readings of the scale: which side went down, or that the two sides balanced exactly.
- A reading like "Basalt + Emerald balances Cobalt + Diorite" means those two pairs weigh the same total.
- Give every object a weight, then press Weigh in. All five have to be different, so the game will not let you submit two the same.
- A wrong answer tells you how many of the five weights were right, never which ones. You get three attempts.
- However it ends, you see every reading again with the real numbers filled in, so you can see exactly where the deduction went.
Tips & strategy
- Start with the extremes. An object that outweighs two others put together weighs at least 4, because the two lightest different weights only add up to 3.
- Chain the comparisons. If one object outweighs a second and the second outweighs a third, the first is at least 3 and the third is at most 5.
- Balances are the strongest readings. A pair that balances a pair fixes a total, and an object that balances a pair equals their sum, so it is at least 3.
- Five different weights from 1 to 7 add up to somewhere between 15 and 25. Working out which two weights are missing often settles the last two objects.
- Make each attempt test one idea. Swap two weights you are unsure of, or trade one for an unused weight, and read the new count against the last one.
Accessibility
Every reading is a sentence that uses words ("outweighs", "balances", "is lighter than"), never a symbol alone. Each weight is chosen from an ordinary drop-down list labelled with the object’s name, so a phone shows its own picker. Two objects given the same weight are flagged in words beside them and in the note under Weigh in, a wrong answer is announced as a count, and the working at the end is a numbered list with the real numbers filled in.